Redemption for Richard Verschoor as he takes first win of the year in Budapest! Formula 2 sprint race report

Richard Verschoor took his first win of the year. Credit: Joe Portlock via Getty Images.

FIA Formula 2 produced another great race with Richard Verschoor taking victory for the first time in 2024 as he won the Saturday sprint race in Budapest.

The Trident driver delivered a brilliant performance, excelling in combining tyre management and pace. After the bad luck of the Saudi Arabian sprint race, a technical infringement saw him disqualified. In addition, in the Monaco feature race he was forced to retire with an engine issue.

Verschoor took victory by over two seconds ahead of Invicta Racing's Kush Maini, who finished in second place ahead of his fellow Alpine Academy teammate Victor Martins who was third.

The Dutch driver has become the 14th different winner in 17 races in the 2024 season. A fantastic statistic.

How the Formula 2 sprint race in Budapest unfolded

It would be time for sprint race action in FIA Formula 2 with the first of two races to be raced around the Hungaroring, over the course of the FIA Formula 2 weekend in Budapest.

The top 10 would be reversed from the classification in qualifying on Friday, which would see Trident's Richard Verschoor start from reverse grid pole with Invicta Racing's Kush Maini who started in second place.

Zane Maloney would be set to start third for Rodin Motorsport but stalled on the formation lap and would be made to start from the pit lane.

The lights would go out and a great start for Verschoor would see him cover off Kush Maini into turn 1. This would put Maini at a disadvantage to Andrea Kimi Antonelli and the Prema driver would find a way into second on the grid.

Antonelli on the soft tyres, the faster tyres in comparison to Verschoor and would hound Verschoor in the early laps. Verschoor would be putting up a robust defence on Antonelli with the Prema man complaining of movement in the braking zone.

It would take Antonelli to lap four to make a pass complete with a very brave but great move into turn 1 on the Trident of Verschoor and Antonelli was the new race leader with Maini fancying second place from Verschoor.

Someone who would be making great progress in the early stages of the race by the Van Amersfoort Racing car of Enzo Fittipaldi. He would next make a move for sixth on the Invicta of Gabriel Bortoleto with a great pass.

Ritomo Miyata would make a great move around the outside of Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti in a delightful pass for the Japanese, ROdin driver.

Towards the front of the feld and Victor Martins of ART, in fourth, and Dennis Hauger of MP Motorsport, in fifth, were in a battle for position. hauger though over the few laps would fail to make a pass and would be vulnerable to Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi not wasting much time made a move for the top five.

 Lap 14 and the battle was hotting up for the lead with the top three were in close range. Antonelli having to defend from Verschoor, who himself was under pressure from Maini. This would be a battle for a few laps as all three drivers in potential for victory but drama would happen on lap 17.

Antonelli was really struggling for the grip and locked up his front tyres, going wide at turn 1 losing him the race lead to Vershcoor and dropping him down to third behind Maini. All of a sudden, Victor Martins had closed right up in fourth position. On the same lap and into turn 12, an audacious move to make from Martins but it would work.

Martins was up to third ahead of Antonelli who would pit on lap 19 for a change of tyres as his soft tyres were near impossible to prevent from locking up. Prior to locking up, he would lose out to Fittipaldi and eventually Hauger.

The soft tyres were starting to go off for a lot of drivers as the reigning Formula 3 champion in Gabriel Bortoleto. Bortoleto was dropping down the order with Franci Colapinto, Oliver Bearman, Rafael Villagomez and Taylor Barnard to get ahead of the Brazilian driver. The Invicta of Bortoleto would pit along with Durksen at the end of the lap.

Dennis Hager would be hounding Enzo Fittipaldi for fourth but in doing so left himself vulnerable to the Campos of championship leader Isack Hadjar, who would overtake Hauger in a brilliant move around the turn 2 and turn 3 complex.

There would be moves being made all the way through the field with the soft tyre drivers being overtaken by their fellow competitors on the more durable hard tyres, as Hauger would get ahead of Fittipaldi after Fittipaldi locked up and went off at turn 1.

After a difficult start for feature race pole sitter Paul Aron, the Hitech rookie would be making passes and would see himself gaining places up into seventh as he overtook the two British drivers in Oliver Bearman and Taylor Barnard. Aron would be up to seventh as Barnard of AIX Racing took eighth from Bearman. 

Enzo Fittipaldi would then suffer a puncture bringing what looked to be having a promising race. His tyres were beyond race worthy and would pit for hard compounds.

A fantastic battle would then occur between Bearman and the two DAMS drivers of Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa who would go three wide around turn two and turn three, with somehow the cars avoiding contact, with Bearman and Crawford being shovelled off the road by Correa. The incident would be investigated.

Out in front, a fantastic achievement from Verschoor, he turned pole into victory and was really pushing hard all the way through. He managed his tyres perfectly well and would take his first victory of the season at the third real big attempt.

In Jeddah, he was disqualified after winning and in Monaco an engine issue cost him a fight for victory. All that was behind him now though, as he took the flag to win by over two seconds to join his teammate Roman Stanek in winning a race for Trident in 2024.

Verschoor would become the 14th different winner of the year in the 2024 Formula 2 Championship as he finished ahead of Invicta's Kush Maini and ART's Victor Martins who completed the top three. Maini in second ahead of Martins, the two Alpine Academy drivers on the podium.

Isack Hadjar drove a great race in fourth ahead of the two MP Motorsport racers, with Hauger finishing ahead of his Williams Academy teammate Franco Colapinto. The pair were fifth and sixth respectively. Paul Aron and Taylor Barnard would round off the top eight and the points finishers.

Action will return in the FIA Formula 2 Championship on Sunday morning for the feature race at Hungaroring, in Budapest with Estonian rookie Paul Aron starting from pole position, with the race getting underway at 10:05 local time with 09:05 being the start time for UK viewers

2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 9 - Hungary sprint race provisional classification

1. Richard Verschoor (Netherlands, Trident)
2. Kush Maini (India, Invicta Racing)
3. Victor Martins (France, ART Grand Prix)
4. Isack Hadjar (France, Campos Racing)
5. Dennis Hauger (Norway, MP Motorsport)
6. Franco Colapinto (Argentina, MP Motorsport)
7. Paul Aron (Estonia, Hitech-Pulse Eight)
8. Taylor Barnard (Great Britain, AIX Racing)
9. Juan Manuel Correa (United States, DAMS Lucas Oil)
10. Jak Crawford (United States, DAMS Lucas Oil)
11. Oliver Bearman (Great Britain, Prema Racing)
12. Rafael Villagomez (Mexico, Van Amersfoort Racing)
13. Ritomo Miyata (Japan, Rodin Motorsport)
14. Zane Maloney (Barbados, Rodin Motorsport)
15. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Italy, Prema Racing)
16. Roman Stanek (Czech Republic, Trident)
17. Gabriel Bortoleto (Brazil, Invicta Racing)
18. Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti (Spain, Campos Racing)
19. Joshua Durksen (Paraguay, AIX Racing)
20. Zak O'Sullivan (Great Britain, ART Grand Prix)
21. Amaury Cordeel (Belgium, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
22. Enzo Fittipaldi (Brazil, Van Amersfoort Racing)

Brandon Whiteside
Writer- F1 Journal